California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of June 18, 2010
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Colton
The Health Care Facilities Accreditation Program recently certified Arrowhead Regional Medical Center as the first stroke center in San Bernardino County, the Redlands Daily Facts reports.
Prior to Arrowhead's certification, the county's nearest stroke center was Pasadena's Huntington Hospital. A spokesperson for ARMC, said the medical center must offer stroke education programs to the public and emergency medical service responders as part of the requirements for certification (Steinberg, Redlands Daily Facts, 6/16).
California Medical Facility, Vacaville
On Tuesday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation broke ground on a 64-bed, $33.7 million, 44,000-square-foot intermediate care mental health building at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, the Vacaville Reporter reports.
Construction is expected to be completed in August 2011. The project reportedly will be the first to tap into the $8 billion set aside under a 2007 state law for construction projects to increase bed space for California inmates, among other things (Vacaville Reporter, 6/16).
Catholic Healthcare West
Catholic Healthcare West has announced a partnership with PrimeCare to develop a regional network of health care providers and hospitals that will share health and contract information, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.
CHW owns the 443-bed St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino and recently announced plans to build a hospital at the former March Air Force Base. PrimeCare manages a network of independent physicians in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties (Pierceall, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/15).
Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura
Sheet Metal Workers Local 273 has filed a 46-page letter questioning the city of Ventura's environmental impact study on a proposed $300 million, 350,000-square-foot, 252-bed medical facility that will become the new Community Memorial Hospital, the Ventura County Star reports.
The union claims that the report focuses too much on the facility's capacity and not enough on its size, which is expected to be nearly twice as large as the current building. The union also asked for further investigation on air quality, construction noise and the potential for traffic congestion in the area (Kisken, Ventura County Star, 6/12).
Hoag Hospital Irvine
In September, the former Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center is slated to reopen as Hoag Hospital Irvine after a yearlong, $85 million renovation, the Orange County Business Journal reports.
The 498-bed Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach took over Irvine Regional in early 2009. The 154-bed Irvine facility will have an emphasis on orthopedics, with more than half of the hospital's beds designed for orthopedic patients (Reed, Orange County Business Journal, 6/13).
Livingston Medical Group
After receiving about $721,000 from the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, Livingston Medical Group has decided to increase the size of its building and add more offices to deal with overcrowding at its two clinics, the Merced Sun-Star reports.
Earlier this month, the Livingston City Council approved Livingston Medical Group's request for a conditional use permit that would allow the facility to expand on a public facility zone. If the council passes a second reading on the ordinance, the proposed rezoning would take effect after a 30-day wait period (North, Merced Sun-Star, 6/11).
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
The 452-bed Long Beach Memorial Medical Center is in exclusive talks to acquire the 81-bed Community Hospital of Long Beach, according to a recent joint statement released by the two facilities, Modern Healthcare reports.
The hospitals did not disclose any financial terms of the agreement or announce a timeline for the management contract and transfer of assets (Blesch, Modern Healthcare, 6/10).
Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center, Thousand Oaks
On Tuesday, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors designated Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center as the east county trauma center, the Ventura Country Star reports. The facility could begin treating trauma cases as soon as July 1.
The board is expected to be asked for a decision on the county's west county trauma center by as soon as June 22. Supervisors are considering both Ventura County Medical Center and St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard for the designation (Kisken, Ventura County Star, 6/15).
Palomar Medical Center West, Escondido
Construction on the 289-bed, $925 million Palomar Medical Center West is nearing completion and is scheduled to open in spring 2011, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The facility will have single-patient rooms that will be equipped with beds that can take vital signs and wall-mounted TV screens that allow patients to videoconference with physicians (Lau, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/12).
Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center, Riverside
Riverside's Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center has missed its latest deadline to pay its estimated $27 million debt to Prime Healthcare Services, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports. The missed deadline clears the way for the possible sale of Parkview (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/10).
On Monday, Prime Healthcare filed its notice of trustee's sale at the Riverside County Recorder's Office. The sale will take place on July 6 if Parkview does not pay its debt or reach an agreement to stop the sale.
Doug Drumwright, Parkview CEO, said hospital officials are working to secure a loan to prevent the sale (Hines, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 6/15).
Philip Dorn Respite Center, Concord
This week, Contra Costa County opened the 24-bed Philip Dorn Respite Center to provide medical care for homeless adults, the Contra Costa Times reports.
Cynthia Belon, homeless program director for Contra Costa County, said the center is the first in the county and one of about 50 such centers nationwide.
The facility aims to curb health care costs by reducing emergency department admissions for homeless adults. Officials expect the center to serve between 380 and 400 adults annually (Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, 6/15).
South Health Center, Los Angeles
Los Angeles County officials recently broke ground on a $20 million public health center that will provide outpatient services in South Los Angeles, KPCC's" KPCC News" reports.
The new center is slated to offer outpatient care as part of the larger Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Center Campus. Last year, the county Board of Supervisors approved a $353.8 million plan to reopen the MLK Medical Center ("KPCC News," KPCC, 6/11).
Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Palo Alto
On Wednesday, Palo Alto's Planning and Transportation Commission held a hearing on how Stanford University's planned hospital expansion could affect traffic in the area, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
The $3.5 billion expansion project would add 1.3 million square feet to Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and is expected to increase traffic on major road in Palo Alto. During Wednesday's meeting, Stanford officials presented their plans for mitigating the expected traffic problems (Dungan, San Jose Mercury News, 6/17).
UC-San Francisco
Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com, has donated $100 million to help UC-San Francisco construct the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital on the university's Mission Bay research campus, the San Francisco Chronicle reports (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/18).
The facility will include 183 beds -- 45 more than UCSF's current children's hospital -- and a helipad. UCSF is expected to break ground on the project later this year and open the facility in 2014 (Duxbury, San Francisco Business Times, 6/17).
The donation is expected to help UCSF advance its plans to build a $1.5 billion, 289-bed hospital complex (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/18). The new complex will focus on women's, children's and cancer care.
Mark Laret, UCSF Medical Center CEO, said the hospital could create hundreds of short-term construction jobs and more than 1,000 hospital jobs (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 6/11).
Ventura County Medical Center, Ventura
Ventura County Medical Center recently announced plans to establish the first pediatric intensive care unit in the county, the Ventura County Star reports.
John Marcum, VCMC's pediatric intensive care specialist, is leading the effort to find a location and provide staffing for the new four-bed unit. The pediatric intensive care unit is slated to open in April 2011 (Gregory, Ventura County Star, 6/16). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.